


Disco Lemonade

by feverbeats



Category: DCU
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-06-10
Updated: 2010-06-10
Packaged: 2017-10-10 01:13:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/93602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/feverbeats/pseuds/feverbeats
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He grows up with holes in his jeans and scuffed knees. He grows up with a bloody lip and a temper.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Disco Lemonade

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [](http://pervyficgirl.livejournal.com/profile)[**pervyficgirl**](http://pervyficgirl.livejournal.com/) for [](http://community.livejournal.com/yuletide/profile)[**yuletide**](http://community.livejournal.com/yuletide/) 2006\. Also for [](http://madmax0r.livejournal.com/profile)[**madmax0r**](http://madmax0r.livejournal.com/), because she gave me the idea. I didn't have something this dark in mind at the time, though. AU from the POV of the blonde kid in Batman Begins. He's a mix of Jason Lane-White and pre _and_ post-Crisis Jason Todd, with hints of Tim Drake thrown in, plus plenty of Red Hood influence. Title from "Sex and Candy" by Marcy Playground.

  
Jason leans on the hard, dirty railing of the balcony and stares out across the city. He hears screams and explosions and rap music every night, and it never gets any easier. Mom and Dad are fighting. They never fought before they moved to Gotham. Jason gets that, just like he gets how _messed up_ this city really is. Maybe it's because Superman doesn't come here. Jason saw the look in Clark Kent's eyes on the day they left, and he understands. He knows that Clark doesn't understand, and maybe that's why Superman doesn't come here. Jason doesn't know that Superman cannot see Gotham. There are rules and there are ways of being blind. There's something in the guts of this city that would kill Superman if he set foot here. Maybe someday things will change.

For now, Mom and Dad are screaming. Mom used to get mad all the time, but it was different in Metropolis. Her mouth would get that little wry twist to it and Dad would smile and things would be ok. Jason kicks the railing. Nothing is ok in this city.

*

Jason grows up in Gotham, and it breaks him and then puts him back together all hard and wrong. He grows up with holes in his jeans and scuffed knees. He grows up with a bloody lip and a temper.

He has a Superman poster on his wall, and he's not even really sure why. For his whole life, he's felt like he's been waiting for something.

Mom and Richard (Jason refuses to call him Dad anymore) fight more than ever these days. Jason has stopped blaming the city and started blaming Superman. He remembers, see. He remembers especially easily when he looks out into the darkness of the city and hears shots and knows Superman is still far away in Metropolis.

There are heroes here, too. Jason sleeps with a batarang under his pillow, right next to his knife. He sees Batman and Robin on the news and wonders what their lives are like. Every morning when he skips school to hang around on the streets he wonders if he'll see them. What would he say? Would he ask Batman if he remembered the punk kid he met one night so fucking long ago that it doesn't even matter? Nah. Jason's beyond all that now.

Then Robin goes away. Jason punches a hole in his wall when he hears about it.

After that, things just get harder and harder. Mom and Richard are losing money. Jason's fights with Richard have escalated, and it's Jason doing most of the damage. It gets worse when Richard, low on money and desperate to save his family, takes a job for Two Face. When it goes bad, Jason doesn't bother looking for Richard's body.

Jason doesn't know what to do. He knows that he _hates_, but he's not sure where to direct the hate. He could kill Two Face. He wants to. For now, however, he just needs to get enough money to help his mom.

He sells his leather jacket. He sells his fucking stupid comic books. He sells a lot of things. It's not enough, though, and Jason gets _sick_ of it.

So he steals. He steals jewelry at first, watches and necklaces, things expensive enough to make a difference. Then he starts stealing magazines and bubble gum, things just for him which help to make up for the things he's lost. He steals soda and CDs and tries to imagine that his life resembles them in some way.

One night, he's walking down the street in clothes that are far too tight for reasons Jason doesn't like to think about. He's smoking, mostly because he's angry. Then he sees the car. It's . . . _beautiful_. Jason's not really a car guy (he's more into motorcycles, too fast and loud to let him think), but this car . . . It has curves in all the right fucking places. Jason _stares_. Then he gets down on his knees.

And yeah, he's gonna take the tires. Why the hell not? It's not like Batman's about to show up.

He's got one tire off when a shadow falls over him. He looks up and draws in a sharp breath.

*

Two weeks in the dark. Jason learns how punch and kick in a whole new way. He learns the rules, and he sets them away in his head in case he ever decides to use them. He drinks Alfred's tea and wears new clothes. He gets a new room with no Superman poster on the wall. One thing, however, does not change. Jason still _hates_ just as fiercely. He hates Two Face for killing Richard. He hates Mom and Richard for moving away from Metropolis. He hates all the people he managed to run up against during his time on the streets. Most of all, though, he hates Superman.

And somewhere along the line, Superman finds out where Jason is now. Maybe Jason's mom found out and told him. Jason doesn't know if the two of them even talk anymore. He doesn't really care.

*

They're out patrolling when it happens. A shot of blueredyellow fire steams down through the dark, thick air, and Batman's head snaps up. Jason sets his jaw and watches.

Superman lands in front of the two of them, and Jason lets himself fall a little behind Batman; hiding, maybe. Superman says, "Batman. Where is he?"

Batman _smiles_ and steps aside, leaving Jason feeling stupid and exposed in the Robin suit. Superman's eyes widen, and Jason feels a sharp twinge of satisfaction in his stomach. He turns slightly, showing off his legs.

Superman opens his mouth to speak, but he says nothing. Then he looks back at Batman. Jason watches the two of them face off like old, old gods. Superman looms in a way Jason has never seen before, and maybe this city has warped Superman too. _He never should have come_, Jason thinks wildly. Batman's cape whips around him in the wind and he looks sleek and dangerous and . . . murderous, even. Superman says in a hollow, angry voice, "He's mine, Bruce."

The use of Batman's real name surprises Jason, and he wonders.

"Don't," Batman says, low and dangerous. "You let him come here, and I saved him. This place was swallowing him alive. Do you know how I found him? He was stealing the tires from the Batmobile. You don't want to know how he was dressed."

Superman doesn't flinch, but it feels like he does. Jason squeezes his hands together hard, wishing there were a way to make all this stop. He didn't start it, though.

Batman shakes his head, and Jason can feel the disgust dripping from his voice. "You should have known. But you always let things happen to you."

"I let you happen to me," Superman says quietly.

The street shakes when Batman punches Superman in the face and then recoils, his hand shattered. "No," he hisses. "No, _Clark_. You don't get to do that."

"Your hand," Superman says, and Jason tries to listen for anger (he's gotten so very good at that), but there is nothing.

"Yes. That's what happens when you do something damn stupid like come to my city. You shouldn't have let Richard and Lois come. You shouldn't have let Jason come. But you did, and now he's mine." Jason shivers. _Yours_.

"If you hurt him-" Superman starts, not even looking at Jason.

Batman laughs, a low, harsh, almost broken sound. "No. No. That's not . . . you don't get to do that either. I'll take care of him, because you couldn't."

Superman looks defeated, and Jason looks for traces of Clark in his face, refusing to acknowledge any that might be there.

"Go, Superman," Batman says, derision in his voice. "Go find your Lois. Pick up what's left of her life and try to put it back together. Take her back to Metropolis, even. But don't think you can have Jason back."

Superman stands, angry and speechless. Then he finally looks at Jason. "Jason . . ."

Jason makes himself meet Superman's eyes. "My name's Robin." His voice sounds small and stupid and _betrayed_, and he thinks that's fair.

Batman chuckles. "Robin. Come here."

Superman watches with an expression very like horror as Jason walks slowly over to Batman. He buries his face in Batman's shoulder, and it's cold against his cheek and his tightly shut eyes. "Where are we going?" he asks, not really caring and certainly not looking at Superman.

"Home," Batman says. "We have a lot of training to do." He puts his hand firmly on Jason's shoulder and steers him away down the alley.

Behind them, there is an explosion of color as Superman takes flight.

"You're worth more than that," Batman says sharply. Jason can see the rest in the set of Batman's jaw. _You glow. Candy and blood and soft drinks and hard rock. This is your city now_.


End file.
